SMS Blücher was the last armored cruiser of the German
Kaiserliche Marine. She was built as a response to what German
intelligence at the time believed were the specifications of the British
Invincible class battlecruisers. Blücher was considered to be an
intermediate stage toward the future German battlecruiser; she was
larger than all preceding armored cruisers and carried more heavy guns,
but was not equipped with guns as powerful as those on subsequent German
battlecruisers.